Co-creation Activities through “LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB”

Norikazu Watanabe

New Business Development Headquarters
NTT East

1．Introduction“Local 5G” refers to 5th Generation of Mobile Communication System (5G) that can be constructed and used in a flexible
manner by a variety of entities according to regional and individual
industrial needs[1]. It is anticipated that Local 5G will be used inregions in which 5G coverage by mobile operators cannot be provided anytime soon and be used in new ways by exploiting the 5Gfeatures of high-speed, large-capacity communications, wide-areacoverage, etc. compared with Wi-Fi.
Given the expanding use of mobile devices such as
smartphones, NTT East has been providing private network
services including Wi-Fi to corporate customers since 2011. It
has so far introduced more than 200,000 Wi-Fi access points aspart of its “Giga-Raku WiFi” service. It is also promoting theconstruction of “Low Power Wide Area (LPWA)” networks suchas LoRa and Enocean in fields that need wide-area coverage suchas agriculture and river monitoring by local governments.
Local 5G is also expected to be used as a private network forcorporate customers, and NTT East aims to provide a lineupof Local 5G end-point solutions for needs that have so far beendifficult to satisfy by Wi-Fi or similar services.

This article introduces examples of co-creation activities
between NTT East and various partners centered about “LOCAL
5G OPEN LAB,” which has been working on various projects
since the Japanese government began accepting applications forlicenses to operate Local 5G.

2．LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB

2.1 Background to establishment
Local 5G is expected to meet the latent needs[2] of users andregional companies with no specialized knowledge of wireless ornetwork technologies. On the other hand, barriers to its use are
not necessarily low given the need to obtain an operating radio
license at the time of implementation and to procure equipmentthat has yet to drop in price. Against this background, NTT Eastand The University of Tokyo (Nakao Research Laboratory) jointly
established “LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB” in October 2019 asJapan’s first industry-academia joint demonstration environment
with the aim of demonstrating Local 5G use cases in which localgovernments and companies can openly participate[3]. Then, inFebruary 2020, NTT East concluded a collaboration agreementwith the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and The University■ Figure 1: Overview of LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB

Participating Entities

Companies, local governments,universities, etc.

Smart Innovation Lab

GPU server
Co-creation

Secure, low delay

LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB
EASTHongo Campus,
The University of TokyoNTT Central Training CenterLocal 5G, private LTE (sXGP) environment

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■ Figure 2: Interior of LOCAL 5G OPEN LABof Tokyo on deploying and using Local 5G environments[4].
This agreement marked the beginning of research and testingat LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB and elsewhere with the aim ofrevitalizing industry and fostering innovation.
By the end of 2020, LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB had held
discussions (including tours of facilities) with over 100 local
governments and companies on the holding of demonstrations.
In this article, we provide an overview of the same facilities
and take up to two examples of demonstrations centered aboutcollaborations with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

○ Open space
Provides individual booths for concentrating on work as wellas co-working space and solutions exhibition space○ Conference room
Provides space for meetings after testing, for consultation
purposes, etc.
○ Collaboration with Smart Innovation Lab
LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB works with Smart Innovation Lab,a joint demonstration environment having GPU resources,
towards the social implementation of AI and IoT technologies.

2.2 Demonstration environment (as of December 2020)
At LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB, a demonstration environmenthas been set up for multivendor systems supporting a millimeterwave frequency band (28.2 – 28.3 GHz), which was systematizedin December 2019. Going forward, there are plans to support
systems using the Sub6 (4.7 GHz) band launched in December
2020. Specifications for this demonstration environment as ofDecember 2020 are given below.
○ Testing room
Provides a closed testing space about 100 square meters in size;
equipment may be carried in.
・Local 5G non-standalone (NSA) (28.2 GHz – 28.3 GHzband)・L ocal 5G-supporting terminals (customer premises
equipment (CPE))・Shield box (anechoic chamber)

3．Examples of Collaborative Projects withPartners

3.1	Collaboration with Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial
Technology Research InstituteTokyo Metropolitan Government, The University of Tokyo,
and NTT East have entered into an agreement on the use ofLocal 5G. In June 2020, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government
began to acquire licenses for Local 5G base stations for use by
local governments, and in October 2020, set up a Local 5G
environment in a millimeter-wave band at Tokyo Metropolitan
Industrial Technology Research Institute (TIRI). TIRI supports
the social implementation of cutting-edge technologies with afocus on small and medium-sized enterprises and promotes thedigital transformation (DX) of society. As a public testing/researchlaboratory, it was the first in Japan to set up Local 5G base stations
to provide comprehensive support for using Local 5G, robotic

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■ Figure 3: Overview of “Collaboration Agreement on Deploying and Using Local 5GEnvironments”■ Figure 4: Demonstration environment at Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial TechnologyResearch Institute■ Figure 5: Test site at LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB

technologies, and IoT technologies[5].
Going forward, the plan is to create use cases that give
5G functions to robots, IoT technologies, etc. and to support
performance evaluations of developed products such as
5G-compliant devices.

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3.2	Collaboration with Tokyo Development Foundation forAgriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
In the area of primary industries, NTT East has enteredinto a three-party collaboration with the Tokyo Development
Foundation for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, a public-interest incorporated foundation and policy-linked body of theTokyo Metropolitan Government, and NTT AgriTechnology
Corporation, a company specializing in “agriculture × ICT,” withthe aim of implementing cutting-edge agriculture using Local
5G[6].
This collaborative project aims to achieve high-quality
and efficient activities by using ultra-high-definition cameras,
smart glasses, and autonomous driving robots to perform remotemonitoring and support to enable remote farming in placeof support activities that have traditionally been provided byagricultural instructors in the field. In the future, moreover, we
can envision optimal support of farm operations based on data.
This may take the form of diagnosing growing conditions as well
as disease-and-pests conditions from collected video or displaying
real-time information using smart glasses.
In December 2020, a test site connectable to the 5G system ofLOCAL 5G OPEN LAB was constructed and demonstrations
using millimeter waves began.

4．Conclusion
Local 5G is expected to meet regional needs and individual
industrial needs, so there is a particular need for co-creation
activities with partners that are facing such latent needs. Against
this background, we presented examples of co-creation between
NTT East and diverse corporate partners centered about LOCAL
5G OPEN LAB.
To further promote co-creation activities with even morepartners at LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB as an open site fordemonstrating Local 5G technologies, the plan is to expand
support to Sub6 (4.7 GHz) band environments and multivendor,outdoor demonstration environments as the need arises.
Moreover, in addition to LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB, NTT
East is managing co-creation facilities that have the potentialof regional revitalization. These include “eXeField Akiba,” anEsports facility of NTTe-Sports, NTT AgriTechnology’s “ownfarm” in Yamanashi Prefecture in Japan, and a cultural facilityof NTT ArtTechnology. We aim to link these facilities withLOCAL 5G OPEN LAB and establish a system that can provide
a range of services from administration to Local 5G technologies
in a one-stop manner. In this way, we hope to accelerate initiatives
toward the implementation of Local 5G in society.
References[1] [2]	Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC): “Information andCommunications in Japan—White Paper 2020.” MIC. 2020-8-4.
https://www.soumu.go.jp/johotsusintokei/whitepaper/index.html (last referenced 202101-15)[3] 	The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Information Studies, Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (NTT East): Establishment of Japan’s First
Industry-Academia Joint “LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB” by The University of Tokyo and NTT
East.” NTT East. 2019-10-18. (in Japanese)
https:/www.ntt-east.co.jp/release/detail/20191018_01.html (last referenced 2021-01-15)[4]	Tokyo Metropolitan Government, The University of Tokyo, Nippon Telegraph andTelephone East Corporation (NTT East): Conclusion of a Three-Party Agreement on theUse of Local 5G.” NTT East. 2020-2-21. (in Japanese)
https:/ www.ntt-east.co.jp/release/detail/20200221_02.html (last referenced 2021-0115)[5]	Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute: “Opening of ‘DX Promotion
Center’ for Comprehensive Support of Local 5G, Robotic Technologies, and IoT
Technologies.” Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Technology Research Institute. 2020-1022. (in Japanese)
https:/www.iri-tokyo.jp/uploaded/release/detail/20200221_02.html (last referenced2021-01-15)[6] 	Tokyo Metropolitan Government Bureau of Industrial and Labor Affairs, Nippon
Telegraph and Telephone East Corporation (NTT East), NTT AgriTechnology
Corporation: “Collaboration Agreement on Implementing Cutting-Edge Agriculture usingLocal 5G.” NTT East. 2020-4-3. (in Japanese)
https:/www.ntt-east.co.jp/release/detail/20200403_01.html (last referenced 2021-01-15)■ Figure 6: O utlook for LOCAL 5G OPEN LAB

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